The distaw section of de axon may eider be a bare nerve ending or encapsuwated by a structure dat hewps reway specific information to nerve. Two exampwes where de nerve ending of de distaw process is encapsuwated as such are, Meissner's corpuscwes, which render de distaw processes of mechanosensory neurons sensitive to stroking onwy, and Pacinian corpuscwes, which make neurons more sensitive to vibration, uh-hah-hah-hah.[2]

The dorsaw root gangwia devewop in de embryo from neuraw crest cewws, not neuraw tube. Hence, de spinaw gangwia can be regarded as gray matter of de spinaw cord dat became transwocated to de periphery.

The nerve endings of dorsaw root gangwion neurons have a variety of sensory receptors dat are activated by mechanicaw, dermaw, chemicaw, and noxious stimuwi.[4] In dese sensory neurons, a group of ion channews dought to be responsibwe for somatosensory transduction have been identified. Compression of de dorsaw root gangwion by a mechanicaw stimuwus wowers de vowtage dreshowd needed to evoke a response and causes action potentiaws to be fired.[5] This firing may even persist after de removaw of de stimuwus.[5]

Two distinct types of mechanosensitive ion channews have been found in de posterior root gangwion neurons. The two channews are broadwy cwassified as eider high-dreshowd (HT) or wow dreshowd (LT).[4] As deir names suggest, dey have different dreshowds as weww as different sensitivities to pressure. These are cationic channews whose activity appears to be reguwated by de proper functioning of de cytoskeweton and cytoskeweton associated proteins.[4] The presence of dese channews in de posterior root gangwion gives reason to bewieve dat oder sensory neurons may contain dem as weww.

High-dreshowd channews have a possibwe rowe in nociception. These channews are found predominantwy in smawwer sensory neurons in de dorsaw root gangwion cewws and are activated by higher pressures, two attributes dat are characteristic of nociceptors.[4] Awso, de dreshowd of HT channews was wowered in de presence of PGE2 (a compound dat sensitizes neurons to mechanicaw stimuwi and mechanicaw hyperawgesia) which furder supports a rowe for HT channews in de transduction of mechanicaw stimuwi into nociceptive neuronaw signaws.[4][5][6]